Pentax NC-1 to be announced on June 23th?

According to our friends from DigicamInfo Pentax will announce the new Pentax NC-1 mirrorless system on June 23 (Update: old date June 26 was wrong)! Pentax claims that this it the “world’s smallest interchangeable lens camera“. As you know the camera should cost around $600 with kit lens. It has a small 1/2,33? size sensor (that’s the size of the sensor in most compacts). It’s a 14 Megapixel 5.6x crop sensor. It can also record HD h.264 movies. Two lenses will be released along the NC-1. There will be a prime 8.5mm f/1.9 (almost 47mm equivalent) and a zoom 5-15mm f/2.8-4.5 (28-80mm equivalent).

Samsung NX20, NX200 and 85mm f/1.4 to be released in July (BH has the lens for $999)


Our sources confirmed that Samsung will announce the new NX20 and NX200 cameras plus the new 85mm f/1.4 lens in July. We hope to get the exact release date as soon as possible. Meanwhile a korean photographer posted that image on the SLRgear forum. It shows the upcoming 85mm f/1.4 lens. The photographer spoke with the person you can see on the image. The tester said the ultrasonic AF is very fast and the lens has no chromatic aberration. That’s not a lot of info but I am sure the lens will deliver a very high image quality. It’s certainly one of those key lenses that other mirrorless systems like m43 and NEX cannot offer yet. Panasonic, Olympus and Sony, are you listening?

UPDATE: The lens will cost $999. You can already see it at BHphoto (Click here).

UPDATE: More info via dpreview forum:
1. It seems to have SSA motor and the AF is very fast. The speed is similar with Olympus E-3 + 14-54mm under daylight. It seems to be slightly slower then 12-60mm lens.
2. I couldn’t see any chromatic aberration in the display with max. magnification.
3. The price of the lens is TBD. It will be released around July or August. He came to the show for the final test.
4. He said he is a Canon user, but he will move to NX because he likes 85mm/f1.4 results.
5. NX 60mm macro seems to be simply Olympus 50mm Macro + SSA motor. NX 60mm macro IQ looks similar with 50mm Macro on main display with max. magnification.

Double leak: Panasonic GF3 and Sony 30mm macro for NEX!

It looks like companies deliberately wants to create leaks to get some free publicity! A Panasonic commercial posted on youtube shows the new Panasonic GF3 which will be announced on June 13th. Sony is even more clamorous. They are already officially accepting preorders of the new 30mm macro lens for NEX before the official announcement! Check here: https://shop.sony.fr/shop/Reflex-numerique/Macro/SEL30M35.AE. The new macro lens and the NEX-C3 should be announced on Wednesday June 8th.

Now let’s hope we can soon see some Olympus and Samsung leaks too!

New Mirrorless camera roadmap (based on rumors)

Here is the updated rumors roadmap. Unlike previous rumors the Sony NEX-C3 will not be announced today but instead it will come next Wednesday (June 8). Our sources confirmed a the Panasonic press release for June 13 and the Olympus press release for June 30. There is still no confirmation for the Sony NEX-7 announcement in July. I hope there will be no other delay from Sony! Confirmed is the NX20 and NX200 announcement for July. There is no fixed date yet! New entry is the Pentax Q for August and the Panasonic pro GF camera for end of August/early September. We don’t know when Nikon will announce their CoolPix Pro system. No rumor at all is coming from Canon (what are they doing???).

Will keep you updated if there is any chance. Bye!

Pentax Q mirrorless camera to be launched in August?

Photorumors posted the specs of the Pentax Q mirrorless camera. Unlike the NC mirrorless system which is supposed to use a small sensor the Q system will be based on APS-C sensors. The rumored specs are:
12MP backlit sensor
HD movie recording (720p)
RAW capabilities
Available in tow color: black and white
Vary small and compact in size
Price around 700 EUR
Several lenses will be announced including a fisheye lens

Is Pentax playing a game? A Kenko-Tokina and mirrorless connection

It’s todays news (Source: DC.watch) that Tokina is going to take over Kenko. At a first glance this is a not so spectacular news. But there are three things you should know:
1) First, at Photokina 2010 Kenko announced the development of a new Mirrorlesscamera with 1/2,33? size sensor (Click here to read the article on MirrorlessRumors).
2) The rumored Pentax NC-1 will feature the same 1/2,33? size sensor (Click here to read that article on MirrorlessRumors).
3) Hoya Corporation is the main glass supplier for Tokina, by manufacturing coated lens units according to Tokina specification and quality control standard. And in recent years, Tokina has become a partner of Pentax-Hoya.

This is one more proof of the close relationship between the Kenko and Pentax mirrorless concepts. And our sources told us that the Kenko camera displayed at the Photokina was just a mockup to see the customers reaction. So did Pentax play a “game” just to see if we like it or not?